I almost always wake up with some tune running through my head. In fact, I've trained myself to remember my last dream when I wake up, and find that these tunes are usually carry-overs from my dreams, though the internal music may switch gears shortly after waking. The title of the recognized music may be meaningful, and with songs there will often be a line that stands out as significant.

Sometimes I end up with tunes that I've never heard before, ones that apparently I've composed in my sleep. Most are derivative dreck, but some are interesting enough that I've written down what I can remember, and a few I've even used for actual songs.

This morning, for instance, I woke up dream-singing a trio with my brother and his wife. They were reading their parts from sheet music, and I jumped in with an improvised bass line that added some jauntiness and levity. I remember all three lines of the chorus and about half the words. And it has potential.

So I was wondering: What are your experiences with dream music backgrounds and with composing music or lyrics in your sleep? Have you tried "sleep-tasking": achieving specific goals while you sleep, like brainstorming a problem, writing a tune or fixing a problem line?

I have woken in the middle of the night and immediately written down some of the most wonderful lyrics ever to come from the end of a pen... trouble is, they never join up or go with anything. I have dreamt entire songs though, at least 2 of my collection are from dreams.

Dunnit - and also walking home from the pub half pissed - many a good song maybe went amiss - it's called "when the Muse visits you" - for one reason or another they tend to visit in the most in appropriate moments - catch 'em right and I am given to understand it's great - in my case they seem to like a few pints inside me before they visit - I'll have to get on of those Dictaphones or something ,and try to nail 'em down a bit . Cheers Betsy

When I hit my teens I recall that I would compose tunes on the piano in my dreams. Would get up in the morning and go to the piano and search for the melody. left it behind though, and today I just play the guitar and sing a bit. Beer (adrien)

Gargoyle: I created the thread with one title, but reconsidered my subject line before posting. I really wanted the "Dream music" title for the thread, to minimize the sort of topic drift that has already occurred.

And if you're rambling on about what I think you are, it is quite usual for both men and women to become aroused during the dream state without there being any overtly sexual content in the dream; it's a physiological thing, though one that (to me) makes as much sense as why we get the urge to urinate when our hand is stuck in warm water.

Sometimes I wake up with a melody in my head, one I don't recall ever hearing before. So apparently my brain is composing while I sleep. Sometimes I go to the computer and enter the tune in Noteworthy Composer to save it for the future.

The music seems to have no connection to dreams. It's just there, as sound, when I wake up.

I understand that some people hear voices when they wake up or go to sleep, and the music I hear may be similar to that. (Once I read that hearing voices in your head is a symptom of schizophrenia EXCEPT if you hear them while falling asleep or waking up.)

No coherent music, but lyrics sometimes. Never remembered them long enough to record any. (Didn't try very hard.)

I used to literally dream up schemes and inventions occasionally, the most ingenious ideas since sliced bread - except when I woke up, all the ones I remembered turned out to be pretty dumb!

Thread drift alert.

In my teens, seeking to tap "the wisdom of the unconscious mind," I trained myself to remember dreams (by affirming at bedtime, "Tonight I will dream and I will remember my dreams.") After many weeks I found myself regularly recalling some. They were entertaining, but with an awkward side effect of confusion. I remembered news and conversations that never happened. I believed I'd come to an agreement with others about matters I'd never mentioned to them in real life. I thought people had died, who hadn't. So after a few months I stopped trying to remember my dreams, and over weeks the veil which usually separates waking and dream memory closed again.

End dream memory thread drift. Return to dream music. Thank you for this topic.

Between sleep and waking one morning a phrase came to me: "Death micht be jist like settin oot upon the road again, but what's further doon this road I dinna ken."

It was the basis for my song, "My Dear Auld Frien" which is about two old Scottish travelling people. The idea being that there was a parallel between the life of a traveller, and death. Always setting out on the road, not knowing exactly where they were going to be at the end of the day.

Why discount good ideas just because they came to you in sleep. The problem you mention results more from failing to edit. Or to cull. Different topic altogether.

Conscious songwriting can fall into ruts--one of the reasons there is so much dreck. Dreaming is a form of lateral thinking, where we jump the rails and make different associations that nevertheless can be appropriate and logical. That's the heart of creativity. Of course, there are other ways to achieve this--many techniques can be applied formally, though people seldom do. Dreams are a freebie where this rail-jumping happens naturally, and everyone has five or six of them a night, the most vivid being just before waking (unless an alarm wakes you at some different stage of sleep).

We tend to think of dreams as being bizarre and fantastic, hence useless; yet, the surprising thing about them is the degree to which they conform to waking reality. And they reveal a lot of insight on what's happening in our lives. Since that tends to be a focal point for songwriters, why ignore a goldmine?

Tunes and songs both come to me in my sleep more often tunes which I now try to write down and play if they are simple enough sometimes I get full orchestral or choral peices although I do not think they are very long I simply dont have enough musical knowledge to know what to do with them. I often write songs in my head as I am waiting to fall asleep sometimes the missing line arrives by morning,but with songs I write them at all sorts of times even when I am listening to other peoples songs! I think that picks up a few of the topics on this thread.

I once had the strange experience of seeing a tune written on manuscript paper in a dream. When I woke the tune was still in my head but I only managed to capture a couple of bars. These did get used in a tune I wrote sometime later.

I once had a very vivid dream about standing up and singing in a classroom, and when I woke up, I could still hear the chorus of the song I was singing. I immediately got up and went to my guitar and started working on the song, and it's still one of the songs I'm most proud of. It's called "Choose Love."

I had never had that happen before, and I've never had it happen since.

I have heard some awful songs performed with the proud claim that the song just arrived, unannounced, in the writer's head while he was asleep or otherwise not trying to compose. It's all very well if you're Paul McCartney, but otherwise it's a good idea to examine critically anything that appears to have created itself without any conscious input from you - it may well be just a patchwork of bits and pieces you've already heard somewhere, dull and cliche-ridden. It may, of course, be a work of searing genius, but take a good hard look at it before assuming that this is the case.

I sometimes wake up with a new tune in my head (never words, just a melody) and it's invariably a trite, derivative and repetitive earworm of a tune that I never want to hear again.

I'm a firm advocate of writing down what one is dreaming and, if there is a tune, recording it as soon as possible. Sometimes the dream world does a great job of processing our experience. Sometimes not!

I've written major portions of many songs in my sleep. I could never have come up with some of the lines if I was awake. Describing a paralyzed elderly woman at a nursing home where I sang who could only tap on finger in time with the songs, but otherwise was completely expressionless I dreamt a verse with the lines:

"And somewhere inside her there's still that young girl With a tortoise shell comb in her hair And sometimes the memories come back with a song As surely as if she were there.

Utah Phillips awoke in the wee hours having dreamt that Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin were singing his HEART SONGS as country duets. He proposed that project to them, and the result was nominated for a Grammy! It was released on Rounder and it still holds up after 10 some years.

golden rule (apart from the GBS one that says there are no golden rules)

Never be without a recording device. Be it audio or PDA or plain old paper and pencil.

I carry a notepad just 2.5 inches by about 4 with elastic retainer loop, and one of those biros that charities give away - flat cardboard stem. Together they take up little room in my bumbag. And it all sits close to my sleeping head too.

Another wheeze if you are desperate is to phone your own answerphone. In my experience the muse strikes when it wants to strike and all you need are the tricks to be known to deal with the situation. The muse will desert you otherwise.

Having said that - the few minutes after waking (even during the night) are the most prolific in dumping ideas into your consciousness. And you can be sure that dreams have put them there in the morning. AND to get those dreams working you do need to feed them with facts, memories, research &/or motivation.

Since writing songs is something that I'm involved with in my waking hours, I guess it's not surprising to me that ideas wouldn't also arrive via dream states. I was surprised the first time that something like this happened to me.

Many years ago, I was dreaming that was playing and singing one of James Taylor's songs. I can't recall which one just now. The thing is, though I was familiar with his songs at that time, just as I am now, I had never tried to play any of his material before. Nor have I tried to play any of his music since. I awoke from the dream, remembering what it was about and was curious as to whether playing the song in my dream meant that I might also be able to do the same while awake. In a matter of moments, I was playing the song. Spooky!

Now, I don't mean to say that I could play it precisely as James does, with his characteristic finger style pickin' and vocals. I just mean that I could play the song's basic chord structure. Still, I was mystified that such a thing could happen.

Since that time, I've often heard music playing in the background of my dreams, sometimes almost like a soundtrack in a movie. Maybe this is a byproduct of watching movies while awake. Though I can sometimes remember that there was music in the background of some of my dreams, once awake, it's a challenge to recall the exact melody.

Most of the time, it's as though my brain turns off the part of my memory that works while I'm sleeping. While sleeping, I've even had dreams where I can recall that I've dreamed a similar or the exact dream before. For some reason, I seem to revisit the same dream again. So, it does seem that memory is playing a role in my dreams but maybe that dream memory is somewhat limited, perhaps purposely so, to my dream state.

Yet, I can recall certain dreams vividly after waking. Upon waking and remembering them, I've written down those at length. It makes me wonder if some dreams have a prophetic quality. That we are meant to recall them and perhaps learn something from them. I suppose that might be the subject of another thread. Sorry for the drift.

I have one song that came to me via such a vague remembrance of a melody that was playing in my dream and the accompanying lyrics. It was difficult to recall once awake but what I did remember, became the basis of a song that I wrote immediately after waking and later called, "Dream Come True", a sweet love song.

Acorn4 is correct, Paul McCartney is reputed to have composed "Yesterday" in his sleep. As he added the lyrics after the event, he initially called the tune "Scrambled eggs" He wrote the song in Jane Asher's family home in Wimpole street

Not directly relevant, but Irish collector TOM Munnelly told the story of going to the house of an old farmer who he'd heard had songs. He knocked at the door and the farmer's wife answered. "Is Frank at home?" "He was working late last night helping a cow calf; he's in bed". "I've been told he has some old songs". She beckoned him in and gently opened the bedroom door, revealing the old man in bed fast asleep, singing his way through a 12 verse Child ballad. Jim Carroll

I wake with a 'tune of the day' running through my head most mornings; do not recall it ever being related to a dream (and while I know I dream, I rarely remember them when I waken) and if there are words they are 'place holder' type words, nonsense that holds the rhythm. They are usually quite short and sometimes hardly more than a thythm, but some seem to have real possibility. I have only tried to do anything with them a time or two.

I remember heairng that Townes Van Zant woke up to find "If I Needed You" written on his bed side stand, in his hand writing, but he didnot recall writing it... "Loup and Lil agree".,....(they are parakeets...)

The words of the hymn 'O for a closer walk with God' were written by Will­iam Cow­per, who wrote to his aunt saying;

'I be­gan to com­pose them yes­ter­day morn­ing be­fore day­break, but I fell asleep at the end of the first two lines. When I awaked again, the third and fourth vers­es were whis­pered to my heart in a way I have of­ten ex­per­i­enced.'

No, Grishka, I didn't understand. I thought when you wrote "The relevant psalm is not 1772" you were referring to henryp's post. Oh well, it all makes sense now.

There IS that period of sleep right before I wake up. I don't think I'm technically in REM sleep, but my mind is still sort of dreaming. I remember what wafts through then, but I almost never remember true dreams.

I once wrote a Highland Clearance song, Henny Munroe, in my sleep. When I awoke I scribbled it down right away. The tune was Irish, Saddle the Pony, and the whole thing flowed. I had been reading about this formidable lady and my subconscious obviously put it into rhyme along with the melody.

The only time I did anything like that, I could only remeber the last line when I woke up.

So I had to write the song all over again.

Here 'tiz...

Another Broken Heart

Momma you are dressing up you're going into town You'll be going dancing in some Honkey Tonk Lounge You're gonna find some Cowboy and he's gonna let you down Momma you don't need another broken heart

Momma there's us kids at home and you're our bestest friend we can't bear to hear you cry for nights and nights on end every time you break your heart it takes so long to mend Momma you don't need another broken heart

So keep on changing partners as you dance around the hall flirt with all them Cowboys and have yourself a ball but if one of them should hold you tight be careful not to fall Momma you don't need another broken heart

Momma you are dressing up you're going into town You'll be going dancing in some Honkey Tonk Lounge You're gonna find some Cowboy and he's gonna let you down Momma you don't need another broken heart

This usually refers to an unresolved problem. Your sleeping brain is trying to square a circle or something and hasn't got the data, or the skill or whatever to resolve the thing.

For further reading try finding a copy of "Creative Dreaming" by Dr Patricia Garfield. It was the culmination of her PhD on the subject of dreams . Getting a PhD on the subject was quite a feat 30 years ago.

There may be other books but that is the one that opened-up my mind to the possibilities.

I think a hidden part of our mind just keeps working on stuff, while we are awake as well as while we are asleep, like the stars are still there day and night. Between sleeping and waking some leakage can occur. Sometimes also when awake 'an idea come into our head'. It feeds into dreams more easily, and sometimes we remember those.

But it helps if it generally doesn't intrude into our conscious thought. Some minds may just be more leaky than others. The downside is that I am day-dreamy, absent-minded, have to work to focus on normal life. I manage OK, but at the wrong moment I have tell that intriguing new tune to go away.

Dreams I think are of differnt kinds. Some are coherent, and if rememebered can provide whole created events including music or song. Some of these do seem special, others much what we would compose when awake. Other dreams are incoherent. But I did once wake and write in the dark the revealed key to the universe. Next morning I read on the pad: "To tie an indefinte number of holes to a string vest, said the Professor."

Sounds more like the dream was telling you that there are holes in our knowledge. Extending the metaphor you could hint at the infamous unknown unknowns. Adding holes to a string vest means there is more we don't know we don't know than the things we know we don't know and are pursuing currently. Or it could be telling you that your string vest is wearing out and needs repair. Dreams can be like that - you are the best judge.

In my experience dreams are far more likely to point in the direction of the message and point from several viewpoints so you can triangulate. Less likely to give you the finished result that needs no honing.

Ideas that pop into your head within an hour of waking are likely to be from dreams, at other times they probably are triggered by some stimulous in your environment. Maybe in conjunction with all that immersion you have been doing (aka research) &/or unconscious dream recollection.

I will be working on a song ,get stuck on a word or verse. When i sleep, it happens. BANG! thats it! I`ll write it down and come morning my eyes feel they`ve been slugged.However there is a great word or words that have come out of a restless night..It is difficult on my partner as she also wakes up. So, when there is a full moon i tend to go to another room for the night.Sngs i have written maybe a month pass might come back and need editing??

This was a very intressting read! it seems that our brains have potential, its like with the brains of autistic persons but they can use in conrtrast to normal people who only through dreams can see its potential?

Anyway i also have been experiencing that i seem to compose wonderful tunes and melodies in my dreams. In my dreams i always preform on a stage before unkown people. The theme is almost always Opera where i express my feelings and sing with the tunes i come up with. I must say the music i have remembered is really sweet and touching much like some of Verdis or another great composer... to bad i cant remember it to its full content

Interestingly the New Scientist had an article this week, on memory. Two things I gleaned from it were 1) short term memory (about 7 seconds ish) can only hold about 6 or 7 items - normally for normal people. But you can train it to up that to 7/8. 2) in swatting for exams (eg) you do better if you read-up for a spell then sleep awhile - but they seem to refer to a "nap" - power sleep.

So I would recommend playing some tunes you admire before going to bed. See what pops out of your head in the morning - or when you wake.

Dreams need feeding or all you will get is night starvation. As the old catch-paraphrase has it.

An interesting Blues came via a dream that I had last night. At first, I could only recall a couple of lines, that I distinctly remembered from the dream. They echoed in mind as I groggily awoke. It was as if the words and music were somehow part of the dream, but I can't recall what the rest of the dream was about. I fleshed out what I thought the words were pertaining to for while, trying to maintain the rhythm and then got stuck and decided to go back to bed. When I awoke, a few hours later, I had another piece of the concept in my head from another dream. So, I used the idea to work up the rest of the song.

The thing that puzzles me, about this particular song, is that it falls so neatly into a musical formula that I've never ever used before in my songwriting. My songs are almost always not anything that I'd consider the norm, with regard to their musical structure. They, more often than not, seem to fall into other non-standard patterns of approach. This doesn't bother me. It's just odd to me that this song has such a standard form, one that I've never used before.

This seems to be my waking mind applying some musical aspects onto the writing process. Hey, that's perfectly fine by me. If I've got both my dream states and my waking thoughts working in tandem, I'm bound to get twice the amount of work done. ;o)

now I don't know if anyone will even read this but I've just and the music that I heard in my dream made me serch the subject. Have I heard this song before or did I actually think it up myself? I don't know it sounded so well composed that I can't help thinking I've heard it before. But when I searched up the song from some of the lyrics which stood out (On the chorus section)I can find absolutely NOTHING. The lyrics which stood out where "When you're in the desert, you feel all alone" The thing that gets me is that this paticular soung was like some POWER BALLAD stuff. with legit live drums a powerful uplifting guitar (Not Electric..Acoustic) I woke up feeling like I was going to cry . It was that up lifting and powerful. such a beutifull sound. Now we all know dreams can take the form in the most craziest creative manner. The song kicked in after I had dreamed up what FELT like an action movie. I could even tell you 1 of the cast but it isn't really important. But yeah it kicked in on 1 of those "driving into the sunset" type sequences. Then I woke up like "WOAH" and proceeded to search for it on youtube and lyric sites based on the words I rememberd but found nothing. Maybe somebody could clarify whether this is actually a real song that I've heard but can't actually remember hearing. Or that maybe I made up this song in my sleep. either way I need to know because this song was something special. Thank you.

I can't answer your question but I know exactly what you mean. Years ago I worked in an office and my desk was beside a lovely Nigerian chap. I have no idea whether or not he was musical in real life, but one night I dreamed that three or four of his friends were there visiting him at work and they were all singing what I knew (don't ask me how) was a traditional Nigerian song of the sea. It was too serene to be a work chantey so perhaps it was an invocation of some sort - I only knew that it was in some way addressed TO the ocean rather than simply being a song about it.

The thing is, that was possibly the most beautiful music I've ever heard in my life: deep, rich a capella harmony singing. I have no idea how Nigerian it was (knowing nothing about their cultural traditions) or whether my subconscious made it up or was playing back something I heard somewhere and then forgot. Certainly there was no real-life connection with this man and music, and I never met any of his friends from outside work.

Of COURSE I can't now remember the melody, only its beauty and something of its textures & colours. A fascinating issue, this one. But without being able to hear the music in question, one that is destined to remain shadowed in mystery.

I have a friend who regards this experience as being "visited by the song fairy". I so loved this explanation that I wrote a song about it.

THE SONG FAIRY

LAST NIGHT THE SONG FAIRY CAME TO CALL SHE CAME WHEN I WAS FAST ASLEEP SHE BARELY MADE A SOUND AT ALL AS INTO MY MIND SHE DID CREEP SHE FILLED MY HEAD WITH SONGS SO FINE THAT IN THE MORN I WOKE UP SINGING SHE SAID THAT I COULD MAKE THEM MINE AND WHEN SHE LEFT MY HEAD WAS RINGING

THE WORDS, THOUGH MIXED AND SPINNING ROUND CAME GUSHING FORTH AT RECORD PACE AND AS I QUICKLY WROTE THEM DOWN WELL, OTHERS CAME TO TAKE THEIR PLACE THEY TOLD OF SORROW AND OF LOVE OF CHILDHOOD MEMORIES AND OLD AGE OF NATURE AND THE HEAVENS ABOVE AND SO THEY FILLED PAGE AFTER PAGE

THE TUNES, THEY CAME JUST LIKE THE WORDS NOTE AFTER NOTE, EACH FOLLOWED ON 'TIL IN MY HEAD A VOICE I HEARD AND IT WAS SINGING EVERY SONG LAST NIGHT THE SONG FAIRY CAME TO CALL SHE CAME WHEN I WAS FAST ASLEEP SHE BARELY MADE A SOUND AT ALL AS INTO MY MIND SHE DID CREEP

Just read the post by Blew My Mind after having nearly the same experience. Almost exactly, but mine was not a power ballad, however did share the same song structure as one (multiple parts, some repetitive). There was a brief pause, and a second song started, like listening to a CD, and then I "woke up" although I was really awake the whole time. The music seemed to last about 60 to 90 seconds, and always happens inbetween wakefulness and sleep.

The music was the most crystal clear, loud, layered, amazing music I have ever heard. It did have vocals but I do not remember them nor the lyrics. For sure this is a song I have never heard as I listen to lots of music, and would love this band if they actually existed! This has happened the same way about 4 or 5 times in my life, and usually while napping in my bed.

I wish I knew what it means. Also, interesting the few posts I have read mention feeling a sense of extasy, and waking up crying, which is exactly what happened to me. If I could could just remember and reproduce the songs I would be famous! : )